Walk-on emerging as No. 2 ASU QB
Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards has joked more than once about keeping starting quarterback Jayden Daniels in a bubble. It’s one thing to worry about an injury that could sideline the team’s marquee player but the coronavirus is still out there and it’s an even more unpredictable foe.
While the Sun Devils are doing their best to keep Daniels, and everyone else safe, the preparation for the Nov. 7 season opener against USC at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum continues.
One of the most significant questions facing Edwards and his coaching staff will be who emerges as the backup to the sophomore Daniels. New offensive coordinator Zak Hill says right now that would be redshirt freshman Trenton Bourguet, a non-scholarship player who was the No. 5 man a year ago.
The only other scholarship quarterback on the roster is true freshman Daylin McLemore out of Junipero Serra High School (San Mateo, California), who was not here for any portion of the spring drills. So Bourguet’s presence with the team as scout team quarterback last season has given him the edge.
McLemore, the son of former NFL defensive back Dana McLemore, was a three-star prospect out of high school and ranked the No. 35 dual threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports.
Bourguet, out of Marana High School, hopes to go into coaching eventually so he has been quite the student and embraced the chance to learn from the coaches on the ASU staff, many of whom have ties to the NFL.
“He prepares really well,” Hill said. “He’s got that coach’s mind. He’s very analytical. He goes into a meeting and he’s on top of stuff. He knows the signals, he knows the signal adjustments. Getting out on the field, he operates pretty well. I feel very comfortable with him in the offense if that was the situation. As a backup, I know that he’s going to prepare well for a game and understand what we’re trying to do. Now it’s the process of giving him reps and seeing what he does with those decisions.”
It has been quite the ride for Bourguet, listed as 5-foot-11 and 171 pounds on the ASU roster. Last season the Sun Devils had a widely-publicized quarterback battle that featured Daniels and fellow true freshmen Joey Yellen and Ethan Long as well as Dillon Sterling-Cole, previously the backup to Manny Wilkins.
Daniels won that job which prompted Sterling-Cole and Yellen to hit the transfer portal with Yellen eventually landing at Pitt.
Long is still with the Sun Devils, after being used in a variety of roles last season.
He shifted back to quarterback briefly in the spring but is now listed as a tight end and H-back, and the Sun Devils seem content at keeping him there rather than move him once again.
“When I came here I knew the situation,” Bourguet said.
“I was the No. 5 guy. They told me they wanted me to run the scout team and I’d be able to travel. I just wanted to come in here and do my best, whatever the team needed. You never know when things can change so I am going out there and preparing the same way, no matter where I am on the depth chart.”
With the Sun Devils thin at the position heading into the spring another newcomer was added to the mix in fifthyear senior Jack Smith, who stepped away from the sports for three years after struggling with a back injury. He too ended up leaving in favor of Division II Central Washington.
Hill now finds himself walking the line between giving Daniels the reps he needs as the starter and at the same time preparing an understudy that has not appeared in a game. He likes Bourguet’s approach and says he is maximizing his every opportunity.
“It’s always a trick,” Hill said. “With the quarterback position you want to make sure you’re starter is getting the majority of the reps so he’s ready to roll. That’s why you like a backup who can process well and learn. He (Bourguet) is very intentional at practice. If he’s not in, he’s watching, he’s analyzing, he’s looking at the coverages, he’s doing his footwork on the side. He’s very intentional with what he does. Even though he may not be getting the live reps out of practice, he’s taking advantage of the ones he is getting and the visual reps, he does a good job with those.”
Bourguet threw for 7,612 yards and 89 touchdowns in his career at Marana but he had to wait his turn there too, not getting a chance until his junior season. Despite the solid numbers he posted as a junior and senior he didn’t have an offer from a Division I school.
But he has remained invested in the ASU program in whatever role he has been asked to fill.
“I’m going in there like I’m the starter and my mentality really hasn’t changed,” he said. “I’m definitely the small fish in a big pond here but I’ll do whatever I can do to make us better.”
Daniels has appreciated having Bourquet on the sideline with him.
“Trenton is the type of person that he’s going to know the details of everything that’s happening. There are times that I go to Trenton to ask him questions about the offense and he asks me questions,” Daniels said.
“We’re just bouncing ideas off each other. That’s just the relationship that we’ve built. I know, God-willing, if anything were to happen to me, I know Trenton would fill in that role and be very well for the team.”